§ Mr. Cousins:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether pension credit applications can also indicate whether an entitlement to council tax benefit exists; and whether this information is passed to the (a) council tax benefit authority and (b) applicant for pension credit. [142657]
§ Malcolm Wicks:The Pension Credit application process alerts customers to the possibility of entitlement to housing benefit and council tax benefit and enables them to ask for a claim form for completion and return to the appropriate local authority. Entitlement to the guarantee credit element of Pension Credit provides linked entitlement to full housing benefit and council tax benefit. Information about Pension Credit awards is provided automatically to local authorities to enable them to determine entitlement to housing benefit and council tax benefit. Notification to customers about entitlement to housing benefit and council tax benefit is the responsibility of the appropriate local authority.
Income support for elderly/minimum income guarantee-expenditure and out-turn £ million cash 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 Departmental report cash or resource basis Cash Cash Cash Cash Resource Resource Provision 3,878 3,776 3,827 4,052 4,540 4,275 Actual spending 3,773 3,619 3,781 3,984 4,486 4,481 Under (-)/over (+) spend -105 -157 -47 -68 -55 +206 Notes:
Numbers may not sum due to rounding.
2000–01 plans were on a cash basis, published out-turn on a resource basis. To ensure consistency we have quoted the unpublished cash out-turn.
2002–03 actual spending is an expected out-turn figure which was published at Budget 2003.The final out-turn figure will be published shortly in the Department for Work and Pensions Resource Accounts.